Day 45: Thursday, May 18 (This was Sparta)

We woke up this cloudy morning and first went to a monument dedicated to all the Spartiate Olympic victors. Every Olympic victor from Sparta had their name inscribed on the monument, and by every, I mean every. All the victors from 700 BCE to 2004 CE were listed. We also took some silly pictures in front of the statue of King Leonidas, the famous guy who bit Persians and kicked the guy in the well in the movie 300. Dope!

We then walked off to the ancient Acropolis, and took a seat in the ancient theater with a really nice backdrop of the Lakonian mountains on a rainy day. We learned all about Sparta and the theater, which is one of the biggest ones in the Peloponnese, and then went to a small museum nearby with a lot of exciting Spartan things going on. For lunch we went to a donut shop recommended by none other than our favorite Sparta expert, PCC! PCC, if you’re reading this, we miss you, and Mr. Donut was suuuuuper good.

Having been bloated by the donuts, we took a short bus ride to Mystras, a medieval castle on top of a really tall and really pretty mountain with lots of Byzantine churches. The views were insane, and the clouds made it even better and #moodier. We climbed all the way up and then walked all the way down, and we can all agree it was one of the most fun things we’ve done on the trip. There were even some wild mulberries that were ripe to perfection, and they were really yummy. The climb down was great, and then we went back to our hotel to take naps of varying lengths. We’re all missing Dartmouth and Green Key weekend right about now, but who cares? We’re in Greece!